Waipoua Forest

A park ranger told us last night that the nearest petrol station was about 13 km away, and Rach and I had no clue whether the van would make it there before running out of fuel. Distance is really only half the battle in determining how long it will take to get somewhere, at least up in Northland; there’s also the factors of road quality and terrain. Some 13 km drives will take you about 6 or 7 minutes; others will take you 30. On top of that, our van seems to measure the gas tank differently depending on the angle of the car. When leaning forward (going downhill), the gas was reading about 1/8 of a tank and the light was not even on; when leaning backwards (going uphill) it was reading E with the light on. So, for the 13 km drive to the gas station over the undulating road, we were feeling relief every time that light went off then worrying again when it went back on. Then after a bit, the light even stayed on when we were going downhill, and that’s when we knew we were about at our limit.

Anyway, enough dragging it out. We made it to the petrol station before the car died. Hoorayyyyy! Neither of us have ever been that happy to see a gas station. We filled up, then headed north into the Waipoua Forest, which is known for having some large Kauri Trees.

I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about Kauris, but I did learn that they can get pretty damn big. Have a look:

This one is called Yakas, and it is the seventh largest Kauri. The main reason I think it’s a trail highlight though is that it’s really the only big one you can touch. As signs all over the forest constantly remind you, the roots of Kauri trees are very fragile and do not go deep, so walking right up to the Kauris can easily damage their roots. If everyone who came through the forest strayed off the path and walked up to big Kauri trees, they’d all die. In this case, they built boardwalk around it so you can get right up to the tree without stepping on its roots.

There’s another set of Kauris called the Four Sisters. They all appear to share a root system.

That little bit of color in the middle is Rachel. They’re tall. Finally, there’s Tane Mahuta, the largest of the Kauris.

We finished our prance through the forest and headed south towards Dargaville. A lot of the kiwis we’ve talked to mention Dargaville with disdain, noting that there’s nothing worth stopping for. We were planning to go right through it, however we saw what looked like a rugby match going on, so we pulled over to watch. Turns out it was only going to be a touch rugby match, and that wasn’t even going to start until after an hour of tug-of-war. Meh. On the plus side, while we were waiting for the rugby match to start before we discovered this, we tried out Rachel’s smartphone as a hotspot for my computer- it worked this time! Mobile internet for the computer finally! Hopefully posts will be easier to get up now.

After Dargaville, our route turned to the East after a bit. There is a short hike Rach and I read about called the Tokatoka Peak, which was shortly after Dargaville.

Jessie had told us to go to Goat Island to go snorkeling, and that is where we ended up for the night. Sadly, there was not a DOC campground, but rather a super touristy, super spendy holiday campground swarming with loud little kids and loud drunk adults. At least by 23:00 it was quiet enough to sleep.